If you haven’t jumped on the social marketing analytics bandwagon yet, here’s breakdown of how those services are organised and how they potentially benefit your company:

The first step is to create an incentive or develop some kind of promotion. Based on that incentive, a PURL (personalised URL) will be created. This will have your branding, but will be directed toward your potential client (using their name) with offers or promotions that are unique to their industry. Your offer must be rewarding enough to get your contact to go to the PURL to fill out a brief information page and poll, thereby awarding them with the coupon.

(Make your buyers aware of the offer using direct mail or email programs.)

Then, (again based on the perceived worth of the promotion) using social media, the consumer will spread the offer to their friends and family in facebook, twitter, email, etc. and it will hopefully go viral.

The gem in all of this is that you get to track responses, analyze those responses, and strategize your next campaign based on the data that is collected. You can get poll results, export data, and learn the valuable statistical details that determine your next marketing techniques and targets.